What is phonemic awareness and why is it important to my child's learning to read?

Phonemic awareness is the ability to hear, identify, and manipulate the sounds of the language. It is important because it is the primary predictor of early reading and spelling skills in kindergarten through 2nd grade. Dr. Seuss and Mother Goose are the king and queen of phonemic awareness. You should introduce your children to both of these literary luminaries and continue to make them a part of your read-aloud sessions.

Phonemic awareness has nothing to do with intelligence, but children without it will have a difficult if not impossible time learning the sound-spelling correspondences (phonics). Phonemic awareness is all about hearing sounds and has nothing to do with the printed letters. Reciting rhymes, producing rhyming words, clapping sounds and syllables, and playing word games are all activities that strengthen phonemic awareness. Phonemic Awareness in Young Children, by Adams, Foorman, Lundberg, and Beeler, is written for classroom teachers, but many parents find it to be a wonderful source of activities to do at home. Here are a couple of ideas:

• Place a few common objects into a bag. Ask your child to pull one of the objects out of the bag and then clap or pronounce the name of the object segmented into syllables (e.g., mar-ker, ap-ple, un-der-wear).

• Give your child a word and then generate a list of rhyming words together (logs, frogs, dogs, hogs, etc.).

Invest in at least one or two Mother Goose collections, a book of finger plays and rhymes, and an anthology of children's poetry. I have included many suggestions in How to Raise a Reader, but here are just a few recommendations:

Marc Tolon Brown, Play Rhymes. Puffin Books, 1993 Teach your child these 12 toe-tapping rhymes. Illustrations for hand motions are included as well as music for six of the rhymes. Look for finger rhymes with favorites like "The Itsy Bitsy Spider" and "Where Is Thumbkin?" and hand rhymes with illustrations of 14 hand games. All of these books will help to build your child's phonemic awareness in the most entertaining possible ways.

Josette Frank, illustrated by Eloise Wilkins, Poems to Read to the Very Young. Random House Children's Publishing, 1988. This should be the first poetry collection you buy. With only 32 pages, both book and baby will fit nicely on your lap. The expressive illustrations by Eloise Wilkins bring to life the poetry of such favorites as A.A. Milne, Christina Rosetti, and Robert Louis Stevenson.

Michael Hague, Mother Goose: A Collection of Classic Nursery Rhymes. Henry Holt, 1988. This collection of classic nursery rhymes is beautifully illustrated in a soft, old-fashioned style. Since the book features only one rhyme and illustration per page, the volume is especially appropriate for the younger child. An index of first lines is helpful.

Iona Archibald Opie, illustrated by Rosemary Wells, My Very First Mother Goose. Candlewick Press, 1996. I absolutely adore this collection. Opie has chosen all of my favorite rhymes and I'm crazy about Wells's sense of humor, which shines through her irrepressible illustrations. When my children have their first children, this will be the collection I'll give.

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